Get More From My Library

Meet John Doe

Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" is to Christmas what "Meet John Doe" should have been for New Year's Eve. Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck and supported very well by Walter Brennan, Meet John Doe is a story that would fit right in with today's headlines. Stanwyck plays reporter Ann Mitchell who receives her pink slip because her stories no longer have any relevancy. Out of anger she makes up her last story about a man who is so fed up with the political and financial wrongs in society that he decides to jump from the top of a newspaper building on New Year's Eve as a protest statement.

After the story takes off, she is restored to her original position with the paper. Long John Willoughby (Gary Cooper) is recruited to play the part of John Doe or the nameless author of the letter who is always followed around by his close friend "The Colonel", played by Walter Brennan.

Meet John Doe has a some similarities to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Mostly it is an indictment of the political and financial systems and the corruption surrounding them. You will see many parallels between "The John Doe" movement in the film and the Occupy movement today.